East to West Ride with Amtrak return

I'm looking to plan our first bike packing trip on the KT in May. Would like to start somewhere on the West (maybe Sedalia) and ride East and then catch the Amtrak back to our starting point. Not sure yet how many days we want to be out, but can someone suggest a good starting point and end point with Amtrak stations?

We are from Topeka so we'll drive to wherever we start rather than taking the train from KC to a start point. Hope this makes sense.

Thanks

It's hard to suggest a good start and end point when you don't know how long you want to be on the trail.

Perhaps go to Amtrak's site to see where the stations are, their schedule, etc. to determine how many days and where to start and end?

great route and lots of options, not sure of your skill level or desires for hotel/BNB or camping. You are at the right place for all info KT! Some thoughts to consider, others will chime in.

Drive to Sedalia, park. Somewhere on this Forum is info on how/where to do this.

Ride Sedalia to Rocheport, 50mi, lodging available.
Ride Rocheport to Jeff City, 35mi, lodging or camping available, can take train back to Sedalia in Jeff City.
Ride Jeff City to McKittrick/Hermann, 42mi, lodging or camping available, can take train back to Sedalia in Hermann.
See below for rest of route.

OR
Ride Sedalia to Easley, 66mi, camp at Coopers Landing, very fun place and great food, under new ownership.
Ride Easley to McKittrick/Hermann, 63mi, lodging or camping available, can take train back to Sedalia in Hermann.
Ride McKittrick/Hermann to Dutzow, 27mi, somehow ride to Washington and take train back to Sedalia. Am sure the Forum has this route described.
OR ride on to STL, 50mi plus street rides and pick up the train at Kirkwood Station, this Forum has the route, all road rides within St. Louis and not very close to the KT trail.

Amtrak has a limit of bikes on each train route, plan ahead.

Missouri River Runner route on the link below. Plan ahead for weather and available food stops along the way using this Forum and the site.

Ride safe and will look for you on the trail!

https://www.amtrak.com/routes/missouri-river-runner-train.html

Sedalia would be the only train stop right on the trail at the west end, but towards the east you will have good train stops available in Jefferson City, Hermann, and Washington. All three of these Amtrak stops have access to bicycle separated bridge crossings so you can get from the south side of the Missouri River (where Amtrak runs) to the north side of the river (where the Katy Trail runs). The Washington connection does require about 2 miles of highway shoulder riding along Hwy. 47 and then Hwy. 94 in order to reach the Katy Trail while the Jefferson City and Hermann connections are much shorter and easier.

Thanks for the comments. I think I have a better idea of what we are looking for now.

We're planning to drive to Sedalia and ride East to Hermann and then take the train back to Sedalia to our car. Thinking we'll drive to Sedalia on a Thursday morning and hope to be on the trail by noon. Would like to arrive in Hermann on Saturday evening, spend the night there and have the day on Sunday to explore Hermann and wineries before hopping the train back to Sedalia in the late afternoon.

We're looking to camp most nights but not opposed to a B&B if that's necessary to split up the riding days more evenly.

Can you recommend stopping points with this in mind?
I'm thinking riding to New Franklin the 1st day and staying at Katy Roundhouse. Then hitting Meriweather's for breakfast the next morning but having trouble figuring out the next overnight.

I'm seeing that camping in North Jeff City might not be safe? Thoughts/suggestions? I'm thinking 40-50 miles per day is probably max so we have time to stop off at towns/sites in between. Again, open to all of your experience as this will be a first time bike paking like this - have done touring on the road though.

If you’re willing to do a little under 60 miles the second day you could stay in Tebbetts at the Turner Shelter. It’s nothing fancy but for $6 you get a bed with a foam mattress, hot showers and flush toilets. The latter get rare west of Jefferson City. It would also leave you with just over 30 miles for your last leg into Herman